Scientist/Sr Scientist, Vaccine Discovery

At Lilly, the work is demanding because patients are waiting. We unite caring with discovery to help make life better for people around the world, knowing that every decision, every detail, and every day matters. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, our over 50,000 employees around the globe take on complex challenges to discover and deliver life-changing medicines, strengthen how health is understood and managed, and support the communities we serve. This is hard, urgent, selfless work—but it’s work worth doing. If you’re driven by purpose and ready to bring your best to work that truly matters for patients, we invite you to join us.  Scientist, Vaccine Discovery South San Francisco, CA At Lilly, the work is demanding because patients are waiting. We unite caring with discovery to help make life better for people around the world, knowing that every decision, every detail, and every day matters. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, our over 50,000 employees around the globe take on complex challenges to discover and deliver life-changing medicines, strengthen how health is understood and managed, and support the communities we serve. This is hard, urgent, selfless work—but it’s work worth doing. If you’re driven by purpose and ready to bring your best to work that truly matters for patients, we invite you to join us.

Lilly’s Infectious Disease research organization is advancing a pipeline of next-generation vaccine candidates. Our South San Francisco-based research team supports this pipeline end-to-end — from initial antigen design and expression through preclinical immune response profiling — generating the data that drives candidate selection and program advancement.

We are seeking a highly motivated, exceptionally organized Scientist to join our team. This is hands-on bench role for someone who is eager to build deep expertise in virology and immunoassay techniques while directly supporting vaccine candidate discovery. Reporting to the Senior Director of Virology, this team member will be responsible for screening vaccine candidate expression in vitro and executing immunoassays to profile in vivo responses to vaccine candidates in preclinical immunizations. The role also includes an active part in organizing sample and reagent inventories, coordinating study schedules, and facilitating shipping and receiving with external partners.

Express and screen candidate vaccine antigens transiently transfected in mammalian cell culture systems (e.g., Expi293F) in standard and medium-throughput (e.g., 96-well plate) formats. Analyze antigen expression by multiple methods, including Western blot/dot blot and flow cytometry. Execute immunoassays (e.g., neutralization assays, ELISA, Luminex) to assess preclinical immune responses to vaccine candidates. Prepare and quality-control critical reagents to support immunoassays, including virus stocks and recombinant proteins Support molecular biology workflows such as plasmid design, cloning, and isolation Contribute to smooth lab operations by organizing and tracking reagents/samples, coordinating inventory, and ensuring accessibility of materials to the broader team. Proactively identify challenges and bottlenecks and, with support, develop and implement solutions. Meticulously document work in an electronic laboratory notebook. Assist in authoring and reviewing SOPs, study protocols, reports, and other scientific and quality documents. Analyze, interpret, and present experimental data in team meetings, delivering reproducible, decision-driving datasets that enable candidate selection and program advancement. Perform all work in full compliance with Lilly Research Policies and complete required training within specified timeframes.

BS or equivalent in microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, cell biology, or a related field, with hands-on laboratory experience. Qualified applicants must be